Parkrun (styled parkrun) is a collection of events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents.
Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park, in London, England; it was originally called the Bushy Park Time Trial. It grew into a network of similar events called the UK Time Trials, before adopting the name Parkrun in 2008 and expanding into other countries. The first event outside the United Kingdom was launched in Zimbabwe in 2008, followed by Denmark in 2009, South Africa and Australia in 2011, and the United States in 2012.
Sinton-Hewitt was appointed a CBE for his services to grass-roots sport in 2014. By October 2018, over five million runners were registered worldwide; the total is now over ten million. The millionth Parkrun event took place on the weekend of 13/14 June 2026.
Events take place at a range of general locations including parks, stately homes, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, beaches, promenades, prisons and nature reserves. A parkrun milestone T-shirt is offered for purchase to volunteers and runners who have participated in a specific number of runs or events. Runners can travel to and complete any Parkrun other than those on closed sites, such as prisons and military bases.
History Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on 2 October 2004 at Bushy Park, in London, England. Sinton-Hewitt was born in Southern Rhodesia and went to Potchefstroom High School for Boys in South Africa as a boarder. He became a club runner with a personal best marathon time of 2 hours and 36 minutes.
In 2004, Sinton-Hewitt was suffering from depression and was unable to run due to an injury. He founded Parkrun because he wanted to continue to spend time with his running friends. In a BBC Radio 4 interview, he said that the idea for Parkrun came from his time in South Africa 20 years earlier, where he had experienced competitive races that took place on the same course at the same time each week. The first event had 13 runners, three volunteers and was managed by Sinton-Hewitt himself.
The Bushy Parkrun was originally known as the Bushy Park Time Trial. Its results were timed with a stopwatch and recorded on paper; washers, each one stamped with a finish number, were used as finishing tokens.
Over the next two years, the event took place every week with the number of participants and volunteers growing, and with new technology introduced to streamline the processing of results. The second Time Trial was launched at Wimbledon Common in 2007; it was here that the model of having an identical structure at different locations began. That year saw a further six events established. They were initially known as UK Time Trials before the Parkrun name was adopted. Five more locations were added in 2008, including the first Parkruns in Scotland and Wales.
The first event outside the UK was launched in Zimbabwe in 2008, though this event no longer operates. The longest-running Parkrun outside of the UK was launched in Denmark in 2009. In 2010, there were 30 new events added including the first in Northern Ireland. In 2011, Parkrun began in South Africa and Australia, both of which have seen significant growth in event numbers, and Parkrun USA launched in 2012. Junior Parkrun started at Bushy Park in 2013. Sinton-Hewitt was appointed a CBE in 2014 for his "services to grassroots sport."
By 2015, more than 80,000 people were gathering in parks across the world each week to run, jog and walk a Parkrun – more than twice the number who take part in the annual London Marathon. In 2016, 1.1 million different people completed a Parkrun and 142,000 people volunteered.
In 2017, Parkrun Global Limited, the organisation which supports global Parkrun events, became a UK registered charity.
By 2018, approximately a quarter of a million runners took part weekly in 1,500 events, spread over 20 countries.
Parkrun events were closed from March 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. They resumed in England on 24 July 2021.
Permanent event closures are rare. Zimbabwe was the first country to host a Parkrun outside the UK; the event started in 2007, but closed several years later. Parkrun Elliðaárdalur closed in 2012, due to operational difficulties in the winter, and Hillerød Parkrun in Denmark closed in 2013. Camp Bastion Parkrun was hosted at a military base in Afghanistan, which shut in 2014. More frequently, Parkruns have formally closed at a location, but have relocated to a venue nearby and changed name.
In 2022, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Parkrun banned its website for users from Russia and ended support for all its events there. The local running Parkrun community separated from the international community and continued weekly events at the same venues under the local brand 5 вёрст ("5 versts").
In 2022, Parkrun changed its rules to ban dogs running with owners where a waist-harness was used; participation was instead restricted to running with one dog on a short, hand-held lead. This was due to research that showed that where participants use waist harnesses, there was an "increased risk of serious incidents, particularly trips and falls, compared to when using handheld leads." A spokesperson said "More than 10% of incidents at Parkrun events involve dogs and, as such, we have spent significant time considering the nature, frequency and severity of dog-related incidents."
In 2024, statistics were removed from the Parkrun website, including course records, the most first finishes, sub-17 minute men and sub-20 minute women, age grade records and category records. In a statement to the BBC, Parkrun stated that this was as a result of investigations by a global working group looking at how their events could be less "off-putting" to potential participants. Parkrun also stated that "[we have] spent many months now making detailed investigations and recommendations. What was clear is that there was a disconnect between the performance data displayed so prominently on the site, and our mission to create opportunities for as many people as possible to take part in Parkrun events – especially those who are anxious about activities such as parkrun, but who potentially have an enormous amount to gain." A petition was created on Change.org that called for the changes to be reversed, on the basis that they provide "motivation and inspiration" to participants.
Event outline Participation All Parkruns are in length and are free to enter. Anyone can take part, including walkers. Participants include parents with their children, pensioners, people with their dogs, wheelchair users, people pushing prams, and club and casual runners; not all courses are suitable for all participants. Beginner runners, older adults and overweight people are common. Visually impaired runners and walkers are also able to participate, with the aid of trained guides.
Events usually take place weekly at the same time, at the same place and on the same course. There is no formal procedure before the run, with participants asked to arrive shortly before the start time and wait near to the starting line. A run director will make announcements giving safety instructions and community news before beginning the run. Participants run or walk the course and are directed by marshals along the correct route to the finish line.
As each runner enters the finish funnel, a volunteer records their finishing place and time. The results are uploaded to the Parkrun website, which also generates a number of statistics. The results available are: finishing position for both male and female runners, finish time, whether a personal best time has been achieved, the total number of runs completed by an individual, their age grade result and their position in relation to other veteran or junior runners.
To have a time recorded, runners need to register on the Parkrun website, print out a personal ID that includes a barcode and bring it to each event. Alternatively, they can download the barcode or QR code to a phone app or fitness/smart watch. Registration needs to be done just once, with the barcode valid for any subsequent Parkrun in the world. Runners can still participate without registering or if they forget to bring their personal barcode, but they will not have their time or participation recorded. If the runner does not have a barcode, their position on the finishers table will be recorded with the name "Unknown Athlete" and no time. After passing the finish line, each runner is handed a finish token, corresponding to their position; this is later scanned alongside their personal barcode, if they have one, to link their result with their Parkrun profile.
The Daily Telegraph reported that "what's clever is that it's not a race against everyone else but a timed run" and that trying to improve your personal best time is a great incentive even for slower runners. The paper further explained that the success of the events is down to them being free and weekly, because it allows people to get into a routine. Another Telegraph article said that a drop in gym usage can be attributed to a backlash against membership fees, combined with the popularity of events such as Parkrun and fitness tracking devices.
Parkrun locations
Events take place in a range of locations and are not restricted to city parks; venues include country parks, national parks, the grounds of stately homes, castles, forests, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, beaches, promenades, prisons, racecourses and nature reserves. The runs have different degrees of difficulty, with hilly runs harder to complete than those that are flat. The running surface varies, with many city park Parkruns being run on tarmacked footpaths, closed roads, grass or a mixture of all three, while country park and forest Parkruns are more likely to be on trails. Runs that take place in hotter countries often start early in the morning, to avoid the excessive heat.
Volunteers Each Parkrun event is run entirely by volunteers, who are integral to its not-for-profit status. There are several different volunteer roles at each Parkrun event. Each event has a volunteer webpage, with the same basic information about how to get involved as a volunteer, as well as crediting those who have made the effort in the most recent week.
At the outset of Parkrun, the central organisation sought to simplify the volunteering process to allow new events to be set up with a low number of volunteers; this simplification now allows new volunteers to assist with minimal training.
Each event has a core team, who has received sanction from Parkrun HQ and the location owner to stage the event. The individual roles are typically filled by different volunteers each week and include: a run director who manages the event, makes announcements and starts the run course safety checkers timekeepers marshals barcode scanners, who scan finishing tokens event setup and close down volunteers pacers tail walkers.
According to Steve Flowers at the University of Kent's business school, Parkrun is an example, along with Wikipedia, of what he calls "people's innovation"; The Guardian explains this as being "driven by users rather than producers, by volunteers rather than professionals." Volunteer roles, such as timekeeping and barcode scanning, use a free downloadable app to assist with the data collection and compilation.
Several surveys and academic studies have shown a net beneficial effect on health and wellbeing experienced among those who volunteer regularly at Parkruns.
Junior Parkrun